List of South American countries

The table sets out information on South American countries and dependencies, including their capitals, official languages, currencies, population, area and GDP per capita at PPP. The list of 13 countries and one dependency in South America is based on the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas. [cite web|url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#americas|title=Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings|date=2008-01-31|publisher=United Nations Statistics Division|accessdate=2008-06-14]

South America is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean. North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. South America has an area of approximately 17,840,000 square kilometres (6,890,000 sq mi), or almost 3.5% of the Earth's surface. As of 2008, its population is more than 380 million, according to estimates of country populations in the "The World Factbook". South America ranks fourth among all continents in area (after Asia, Africa, and North America) and fifth in population (after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America). [citation|title=The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|year=2007|edition=2nd|page=598|isbn=0-312-37659-6|oclc=173243876]

Countries and dependencies

See also

* by GDP
** by GDP per capita
** by GDP PPP
* by population
** by population density

Notes

*note label|Note1|A|A The CIA's estimate for GDP per capita (PPP) is used in the article. For the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's estimates, see List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita.
*note label|Note1|B|B La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia; Sucre is the judicial seat.
*note label|Note1|C|C Santiago is the administrative capital of Chile; Valparaíso is the site of legislative meetings.
*note label|Note1|D|D The figures in this table only apply to French Guiana (which is an overseas department and region of France), not France itself.
*note label|Note1|E|E The estimated area of French Guiana varies from 83,534 to 91,000 square kilometres based on the source. [cite book|last=Redfield|first=Peter|title=Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|date=2000|pages=p. 269|isbn=0-520-21985-6|oclc=191037539]
*note label|Note1|F|F This table only takes into account French Guiana's Gross Regional Product (GRP), not the entire gross national product of France.
*note label|Note1|G|G Aymara is given limited recognition as an official language of Peru. [cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education|last=Baker|first=Colin|coauthors=Sylvia P. Jones|year=1998|publisher=Multilingual Matters|location=Clevedon|page=p. 460|isbn=1-85359-362-1|oclc=34932753]
*note label|Note1|H|H Article 9 of the 1999 Constitution of Venezuela also recognizes all indigenous languages spoken in the country. "Indigenous languages are also for official use for Indigenous peoples and must be respected throughout the Republic's territory for being part of the nation's and humanity's patrimonial culture. [cite book|last=Kozloff|first=Nikolas|title=Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the United States|publisher=Macmillan Publishers|location=New York|date=2007|pages=p. 136|isbn=1-4039-8409-3|oclc=144596511]

References